Ellis Island

Ellis Island is an island in the Upper New York Bay, just to the north of Liberty Island in both New York and New Jersey territorial waters. Ellis Island was opened on 1 January 1892 as an immigrant inspection station, and it was operated until 1954. The peak year of European immigration was 1907, when 1,285,349 people entered the United States through Ellis Island. In 1924, a quota act was enacted, restricting immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, particularly Jews, Italians, and Slavs. The immigrant inspection station closed in 1954, and it became a museum in 1990.